The present invention is directed to a tamper-proof card enclosure, and more particularly to a tamper-proof card enclosure for use with a high speed communication card.
Many activities require secure communications. Diplomatic missions and military forces, for example, frequently find it necessary to communicate via messages that cannot reveal secret information if they are intercepted. Powerful encryption algorithms have been developed for converting uncoded messages into coded messages that can be transmitted securely since they can only be decoded by the intended recipient.
Financial institutions such as banks must also have access to reliable and secure communication channels to other financial institutions. The reason is that a breach in security might lead to substantial financial losses.
An encryption/decryption system may be implemented on a communications card that is included in equipment connected to a communications network. Such a communications card is an enticing target for malefactors since it may contain codes or keys to decrypt intercepted messages or to encode fraudulent messages. It is known that a communication card may be mounted in a metal enclosure which is then wrapped in a security mesh, and impregnated with polyurethane resin. A security mesh is a web or sheet of an insulating material with circuit elements such as closely spaced conductive lines fabricated on it. The circuit elements are disrupted if the mesh is torn, and this disruption can be sensed in order to generate an alarm signal. The alarm signal may be conveyed to a monitor in order to reveal an attack on the integrity of the communications card. The alarm signal may also trigger an erasure of encryption/decryption keys stored on the communications card.
Security mesh is commercially available from W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., having an office at 555 Papermill Road, Newark, Del. 19711 (USA). A security mesh is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,539 to Farquhar et al. The Farquhar et al patent is assigned to the Assignee of the present invention and is incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating communication between two financial institutions. A financial institution 10 such as a first bank has a number of items of electrical equipment that are connected to a control unit 12. Only two items of electrical equipment are shown in the drawing (items 14 and 16), but more are typically present. These items of electrical equipment may include automatic teller machines, terminals for operation by tellers, loan offices, and other employees of the bank, information storage units, and so on. The control unit 12 includes a communication card that is connected to a communications network 20. The communications card 18 permits the control unit 12 to communicate with a similar communication card (not illustrated) in a financial institution 22, such as a second bank. The control unit 12 includes an alarm unit 24 that detects whether a security mesh (not illustrated in FIG. 1) around the communications card 18 has been breached.